Monthly Archives: December 2013

BLESS- DON’T CURSEIt is the way of peace

Christians have always connected the traditional New Year’s feast to a motive of their faith. Before the council Jesus’ circumcision was celebrated. It took place, according to Luke, eight days after his birth (Lk 2, 21). Then this day was dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. From 1968, January 1 became the “world day of peace” promulgated by Pope Paul VI. The readings reflect a variety of themes: the blessing to begin well the new year (first reading); Mary, model of every mother and disciple (gospel); peace (first reading and the gospel); the divine sonship (second reading); amazement before God’s love (gospel); the name with which God wishes to be identified and invoked (first reading and the gospel).

To bless and blessing are terms that occur often in the Bible. They could be found in each page (552x in the Old Testament, 65x in the New Testament). From the beginning God blesses his creatures: the living beings that they be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1, 22), the man and the woman that they rule over all creation (Gen 1, 28) and the Sabbath, sign of rest and of joy without end (Gen 2, 3).

We need to feel blessed by God and by the brethren. Cursing distances, separates, indicates the refusal, while blessing instead approaches, strengthens the solidarity, infuses trust and hope. “May the lord bless you and protect you”: these are the first words that the liturgy utters on this day that they be impressed in our hearts and that we repeat them to friends and enemies throughout the year.

To interiorize the message, we repeat:

Teach us, O Lord, to bless who insults us, to bear with who persecutes us, to confront who slanders us.

First Reading (Sir 3: 2-6, 12-14)

The first reading deals with how the children should behave towards their parents, and their duties and obligations can be simply summarized as “honor them”. Children should be upright and honest so that their parents feel honored when they hear their names mentioned. Children should help their parents financially when they are in need. God promises numerous blessings on those who take care of their fathers and mothers: Those who look after their parents will enjoy a long life and be happy with children of their own; their sins will be forgiven (2, 5-14).

You may have noticed how the reading stresses the obligations of children towards their parents. We could get the impression that parents may behave as they like and children are obliged to help them. Should a man who is continually drunk and who shows disrespect for his wife, squanders his money, picks fight with everybody expect obedience and respect from his children?

Such things happen even in Christian families. We must however remember that we cannot set conditions for loving others. We do not love people because they are good; we may make them good by loving them. If this is true for everybody, it is much more so in the case of parents. Loving our parents does not mean letting them do what they like; we must instead try to understand them and help them to be happy. Children do misbehave, yet their parents do not abandon them, but hope for improvement.

Second Reading (Col 3: 12-21)

Paul tells us that we Christians must on beautiful clothes, made up of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness (12-13). But this is not all.

Over all these clothes we must put on the coat that keeps them together, love. Love is not just a vague feeling of compassion. It is a constant attitude of service towards others and a readiness to suffer for them. All Christians are expected to wear these clothes. They have to be worn day and night, and must never be taken off…

In the second part of the reading (18-21), Paul applies the law of love to the relationship between the various members of the Christian family. He tells women to submit to their husbands and then tells the husbands to love their wives. Generally women show little liking for these words of Paul. Why does he not tell husbands, “Submit to your wives?” Paul does not apply the term “serve,” to husbands he uses another one that is just as good and means exactly the same thing, “love”. The one who serves loves.

Can a couple consider itself truly Christian just because they were baptized and were married in Church? Can a husband be truly Christian when he is interested only in his own welfare? When he never consults his wife, or talks to her only to give her orders, when he does nothing around the house? Is it only the wife who must care for the children and look after the house? Can a couple consider themselves Christians if they hold nothing in common? Is our behavior towards our spouses compatible with the law of love?

Gospel (Mt 2: 13-15. 19-23)

The people of Israel were waiting for a Messiah who would repeat the glorious deeds of the great leader, Moses. This expectation was founded on what the liberator had said before he died: “Yahweh, your God will raise up a prophet like myself, from among yourselves, from your own brothers” (Deut 18: 15). Matthew in his Gospel wants us to understand that Jesus is this new prophet. Using the teaching method of his time, he does not say so explicitly but explains to us how the life of Jesus was similar to Moses’.

Pharaoh gave the order that all male children of the Jews should be thrown into the river (Ex.1: 15-22). Herod ordered the killing of all the children in Bethlehem. Moses was the only one who escaped the massacre (Ex 2: 1-10) and the same thing happened to Jesus. Later on Moses had to flee to avoid being killed (Ex 2:15). Jesus was forced to do the same. Finally when those who wanted to kill him had died, Moses was told, “Go, return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” Moses then took his wife and his son, and putting them on a donkey started back for the land of Egypt (Ex 4: 19-20). These are the same words we find in today’s gospel (20)

It is clear that Matthew wanted to show Jesus as the new Moses. I have insisted on this point because this year we shall be commenting on Matthew’s Gospel and we will often come across this parallel between Moses and Jesus.

Today’s gospel is also linked to the quotation fro Hosea’s prophecy: “I called my son out of Egypt” (15). The prophet probably means the people of Israel who in the Bible are called “my first-born son” (Ex 4: 22). The Israelites were called out of Egypt to the promised land. By applying this saying to Jesus, Matthew tells us that Jesus identifies himself with the people he wants to save.

LIGHT
for those lost in the darkness

Introduction

The darkness covered the abyss, when “God said, let there be light “ (Genesis 1: 2-3)

Light is the first word that God speaks in the Bible, the word that marks the beginning of creation (Gen 1, 3). And since “God saw that the light was good” (Gen 1:4), man no longer stopped loving her, searching for her, while he fears and flees from darkness. Darkness draws death, and man wants to get out from it.

Whoever is born comes to light, whoever dies moves towards the land of darkness (Job 10, 21). “God” – Job says – “reveals the deepest things of darkness and transforms darkness into light” (Job 12:22). In the biblical view, darkness is but a temporary state of light. It is destined to become light.

God is light and permeates every creature with light: the dew becomes a dew of light in the poetic image of Isaiah (Is. 26, 19), even the dark and menacing clouds are heavy with the light that suddenly shines when the lightning flashes (Job 37, 15).

We celebrate the Christmas liturgy during the night to symbolically reproduce the darkness won over by the word of the Creator, the darkness of our human condition illuminated by the coming of the Savior.

To internalize the message, let us repeat :“The light of a Child shines on those who live in darkness . “

JESUS, THE GOD WITH US

Introduction

The son of the virgin Mary has a double name, one used by his contemporaries—Jesus, the one who frees from sin—and the one Matthew, the Evangelist gives him: Emmanuel, God with us.

The first great heresy was introduced by a brilliant dialectic of the fourth century, Apollinaris of Laodicea. He claimed that Jesus had a human body, but not a soul like ours. He feared that, by granting him a full humanity, his divinity would come out blurred. He made a big mistake. He took him away from our world, from our condition. He deprived him the second name, that of Emmanuel.

In the expression of John “the Word was made ​​flesh” (Jn 1:14) the term flesh indicates not only the corporiality, but the whole human being understood in its appearance of weakness, fragility and limits imposed by the fact of being a creature.

In Mary, the Only Begotten of the Father is not only covered with muscles, but is fully inserted in our human condition.He had feelings, emotions and passions. He experienced the joys of affections and disappointments of betrayal. He shared our anxieties, sorrows, humiliations, ignorance, satisfaction in learning and also our fear of death. Not that he just united himself to a real body, but really became a man like us in everything except sin. For this, he is Emmanuel, God with us.